St. Lawrence String Quartet

“Modern…dramatic…superb…wickedly attentive…with a hint of rock ‘n roll energy” are just a few ways critics describe the the St. Lawrence String Quartet. The SLSQ is renowned for the intensity of its performances, its breadth of repertoire, and its commitment to concert experiences that are at once intellectually exciting and emotionally alive. Its fruitful partnerships with John Adams, Jonathan Berger, Osvaldo Golijov, and other composers has yielded some of the finest additions to the quartet literature in recent years. The Quartet is also dedicated to the music of Haydn, and are recording his set of six Op. 20 quartets for a free, online video release in 2017. According to The New Yorker, “no other North American quartet plays the music of Haydn with more intelligence, expressivity, and force…”

Established in Toronto in 1989, the SLSQ quickly earned acclaim at top international chamber music competitions and was soon playing hundreds of concerts per year worldwide. They established an ongoing residency at Spoleto Festival USA and earned two Grammy nominations and a host of other prizes before being appointed ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University in 1998.

At Stanford, the SLSQ directs the music department’s chamber music program and collaborates with other departments. The Quartet frequently performs at Stanford Live, hosts an annual chamber music seminar, and runs the Emerging String Quartet Program through which they mentor the next generation of quartets. In the words of Alex Ross of The New Yorker: “The St. Lawrence are remarkable not simply for the quality of their music making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection.”

The Austin Chamber Music Center is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts. ACMC is also funded in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.